Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has issued invitations to apply (ITAs) in the most recent Express Entry draw.

The department issued 400 ITAs in a draw that considered candidates through the Canadian Experience Class (CEC).

Candidates required a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 539 to be considered.

Today’s draw was the second Express Entry draw of the week. The last one occurred on October 21 and invited 648 Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) candidates with a minimum CRS score of at least 791.

In recent months IRCC has developed a pattern of holding multiple Express Entry draws every second week, usually including PNP and CEC-specific draws.

This highlights IRCC’s ongoing commitment to increasing the number of domestic draws for Express Entry candidates already living and working in Canada as temporary residents. This strategy was implemented to help the department meet both its target for reducing the number of temporary residents in Canada, while also meeting the targeted number of new permanent residents that Canada will admit each year as outlined in the Immigration Levels Plan.

The next Plan is expected to be released by November 1 this year with targets for 2025-2027. The 2024 planned to welcome 110,770 in 2024. So far, details have not been released if IRCC met that target.

Those who receive an ITA in draws throughout the second half of the year are more likely to be admitted in 2025 due to IRCC’s service standard of six months for processing Express Entry applications.

What is Express Entry?

Express Entry is an application management system that oversees three of Canada’s most prominent economic immigration programs: the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) and the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP).

These programs use the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) to single out the candidates who are most likely to fill urgent gaps in Canada’s labour force and contribute to the national economy,

It does this by examining a candidate’s human capital factors such as age, occupation, education, language ability and work experience. Each factor receives a score and is added together to get an overall CRS score.

CRS scores are often higher in PNP draws because Express Entry candidates who are nominated by a province automatically receive an additional 600 points.

Candidates may also receive points for having family in Canada or immigrating with a spouse or partner.

Those with the highest scores are the most likely to receive an ITA in an upcoming Express Entry draw.

Summary of Express Entry draw results in 2024